1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1950–51 season of University of Kentucky men's basketball team

1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions SEC regular season champions
National Championship Game, W 68–58 vs. Kansas State
Conference	Southeast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	32–2 (14–0 SEC)
Head coach	Adolph Rupp
Assistant coach	Harry Lancaster
Captain	Walter Hirsch
Home arena	Memorial Coliseum
Seasons← 1949–50 1951–52 →

1950–51 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 Kentucky	14	–	0	1.000	32	–	2	.941
Vanderbilt †	10	–	4	.714	19	–	8	.704
Alabama	10	–	4	.714	15	–	8	.652
Tulane	8	–	6	.571	12	–	12	.500
Auburn	6	–	8	.429	12	–	10	.545
Georgia	6	–	8	.429	13	–	11	.542
Florida	6	–	8	.429	11	–	12	.478
LSU	6	–	8	.429	10	–	14	.417
Georgia Tech	6	–	8	.429	8	–	19	.296
Ole Miss	5	–	9	.357	12	–	12	.500
Tennessee	5	–	9	.357	10	–	13	.435
Mississippi State	2	–	12	.143	3	–	16	.158

† 1951 SEC Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented University of Kentucky. The head coach was Adolph Rupp. The team was a member of the Southeast Conference and played their home games at Memorial Coliseum. Two members of this team eventually returned to Kentucky as athletic director: Cliff Hagan from 1975 to 1988, and Charles Newton from 1989 to 2000.

Roster

1950–51 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
C	6	Cliff Hagan	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Owensboro	Owensboro, Kentucky
F	19	Walter Hirsch	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Northridge	Dayton, Ohio
F	11	Shelby Linville	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Middletown	Middletown, Ohio
G/F	35	Charles Newton	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Fort Lauderdale	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
C	77	Bill Spivey	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Macon Jordan	Warner Robins, Georgia
G	7	Guy Strong	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sr	Irvine, Kentucky
G	38	Bobby Watson	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	Jr	Owensboro, Kentucky
G	32	Lucian Whitaker	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Jr	Sarasota, Florida

Head coach

Adolph Rupp (Kansas)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
NCAA tournament
Mar 20, 1951*	No. 1	vs. Louisville	W 79–68	29–2	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Mar 22, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 9 St. John's	W 59–43	30–2	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Mar 24, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 5 Illinois National Semifinal	W 76–74	31–2	Madison Square Garden (17,000) New York, New York
Mar 27, 1951*	No. 1	vs. No. 4 Kansas State National Championship game	W 68–58	32–2	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

NCAA basketball tournament

Mideast
- Kentucky 79, Louisville 68
- Kentucky 59, St. John's, New York 43
Final Four
- Kentucky 76, Illinois 74
- Kentucky 68, Kansas State 58

Rankings

Main article: 1950–51 NCAA men's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

Bill Spivey – consensus first-team All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

No one from the Wildcats men's team was selected in the 1951 NBA draft.

References

sports-reference.com 1950-51 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
"RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
"1951 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2009.

v t e Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball 1950–51 NCAA champions
6 Cliff Hagan 7 Guy R. Strong 11 Shelby Linville 16 Lou Tsioropoulos 19 Walter Hirsch 30 Frank Ramsey 32 Lucian Whitaker 35 Charles Newton 38 Bobby Watson 77 Bill Spivey Head coach Adolph Rupp Assistant coach Harry Lancaster

Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball 1950–51 NCAA champions

Head coach: Adolph Rupp

Assistant coach: Harry Lancaster

v t e Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	State College Gymnasium (1903–1914) Buell Armory Gymnasium (1910–1924) Alumni Gymnasium (1924–1950) Memorial Coliseum (1950–1976) Rupp Arena (1976–present) Joe Craft Center (practice)
Rivalries	Centre (historical) Florida Indiana Louisville North Carolina Tennessee Transylvania (historical)
Culture & lore	History under Adolph Rupp Fabulous Five Point-shaving scandal Fiddlin' Five Rupp's Runts The Season Without Celebration "The Shot" Unforgettables Untouchables Comeback Cats John Wall Dance Tweakables Pursuit of Perfection 2011 Indiana game Basketbowl Champions Classic CBS Sports Classic The Rivalry: Red v. Blue The Wildcat Scratch Blue "On, On, U of K" "Kentucky Fight" Big Blue Nation Blue blood status
People	Head coaches Honorees NBA draftees Players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics

v t e NCAA Division I men's basketball champions
1939 Oregon 1940 Indiana 1941 Wisconsin 1942 Stanford 1943 Wyoming 1944 Utah 1945 Oklahoma A&M 1946 Oklahoma A&M 1947 Holy Cross 1948 Kentucky 1949 Kentucky 1950 CCNY 1951 Kentucky 1952 Kansas 1953 Indiana 1954 La Salle 1955 San Francisco 1956 San Francisco 1957 North Carolina 1958 Kentucky 1959 California 1960 Ohio State 1961 Cincinnati 1962 Cincinnati 1963 Loyola (IL) 1964 UCLA 1965 UCLA 1966 Texas Western 1967 UCLA 1968 UCLA 1969 UCLA 1970 UCLA 1971 UCLA 1972 UCLA 1973 UCLA 1974 NC State 1975 UCLA 1976 Indiana 1977 Marquette 1978 Kentucky 1979 Michigan State 1980 Louisville 1981 Indiana 1982 North Carolina 1983 NC State 1984 Georgetown 1985 Villanova 1986 Louisville 1987 Indiana 1988 Kansas 1989 Michigan 1990 UNLV 1991 Duke 1992 Duke 1993 North Carolina 1994 Arkansas 1995 UCLA 1996 Kentucky 1997 Arizona 1998 Kentucky 1999 Connecticut 2000 Michigan State 2001 Duke 2002 Maryland 2003 Syracuse 2004 Connecticut 2005 North Carolina 2006 Florida 2007 Florida 2008 Kansas 2009 North Carolina 2010 Duke 2011 Connecticut 2012 Kentucky 2013 Louisville (Vacated) 2014 UConn 2015 Duke 2016 Villanova 2017 North Carolina 2018 Villanova 2019 Virginia 2020 No tournament 2021 Baylor 2022 Kansas 2023 UConn 2024 UConn

NCAA Division I men's basketball champions

1939: Oregon
1940: Indiana
1941: Wisconsin
1942: Stanford
1943: Wyoming
1944: Utah
1945: Oklahoma A&M
1946: Oklahoma A&M
1947: Holy Cross
1948: Kentucky
1949: Kentucky
1950: CCNY
1951: Kentucky
1952: Kansas
1953: Indiana
1954: La Salle
1955: San Francisco
1956: San Francisco
1957: North Carolina
1958: Kentucky
1959: California
1960: Ohio State
1961: Cincinnati
1962: Cincinnati
1963: Loyola (IL)
1964: UCLA
1965: UCLA
1966: Texas Western
1967: UCLA
1968: UCLA
1969: UCLA
1970: UCLA
1971: UCLA
1972: UCLA
1973: UCLA
1974: NC State
1975: UCLA
1976: Indiana
1977: Marquette
1978: Kentucky
1979: Michigan State
1980: Louisville
1981: Indiana
1982: North Carolina
1983: NC State
1984: Georgetown
1985: Villanova
1986: Louisville
1987: Indiana
1988: Kansas
1989: Michigan
1990: UNLV
1991: Duke
1992: Duke
1993: North Carolina
1994: Arkansas
1995: UCLA
1996: Kentucky
1997: Arizona
1998: Kentucky
1999: Connecticut
2000: Michigan State
2001: Duke
2002: Maryland
2003: Syracuse
2004: Connecticut
2005: North Carolina
2006: Florida
2007: Florida
2008: Kansas
2009: North Carolina
2010: Duke
2011: Connecticut
2012: Kentucky
2013: Louisville (Vacated)
2014: UConn
2015: Duke
2016: Villanova
2017: North Carolina
2018: Villanova
2019: Virginia
2020: No tournament
2021: Baylor
2022: Kansas
2023: UConn
2024: UConn

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